The present invention relates to electronic printers and laminators of the type used to print or laminate a substrate. More specifically, the present invention relates to the transfer of data between the electronic printer or laminator and supplies which are used during operation of the printer.
Electronic printers are used for printing onto the substrate. Examples of such printers include bubble jet, dye sublimation, impact, and laser printers. In general, all such printers require some type of supply for their continued operation. Examples of such supplies include ribbon, ink, toner cartridge, print medium, overlaminate film, cleaning tape, cleaning roller, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,519, issued May 26, 1998 and entitled xe2x80x9cPRINTER RIBBON IDENTIFICATION SENSORxe2x80x9d describes an identification system for a hub which carries a ribbon. This allows the printer to receive information from the ribbon core such as the type of ribbon or the particular section or panel of ribbon being printed. The information is encoded magnetically or through bar coding. However, the information carried on the ribbon is fixed and can not be changed during use.
A printer or laminator for printing or laminating onto a substrate includes a substrate feed mechanism configured to secure the substrate during printing and a print mechanism configured to print on the substrate. A transceiver is configured to transfer power through a non-physical link to a radio frequency (RF) circuit carried on a printer or laminator supply to thereby power the RF circuit. The transceiver also responsively receives printer or laminator supply data through a non-physical link from the RF circuit.